Praise for the work of Gar Alperovitz:
Must reading for those who believe that economics should be at the service of human values.
—SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY
[E]minently practical ideas that promise a truly democratic society.
—HOWARD ZINN, AUTHOR OF A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
Be prepared for a mind-opening experience.
—THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY
[C]areful, well-researched, and practical alternatives progressives have been seeking.
—JULIET SCHOR, AUTHOR OF THE OVERSPENT AMERICAN
Must reading for those who believe that economics should be at the service of human values.
—SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY
[E]minently practical ideas that promise a truly democratic society.
—HOWARD ZINN, AUTHOR OF A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
Be prepared for a mind-opening experience.
—THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY
[C]areful, well-researched, and practical alternatives progressives have been seeking.
—JULIET SCHOR, AUTHOR OF THE OVERSPENT AMERICAN
Unjust Deserts
How the Rich Are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take It Back
paperback
$17.95
Why most of the wealth that is earned comes in the form of a "free lunch”—and why, logically, we must give most of it back to society as a result
The inherited wealth created by our forebears ultimately belongs to all of us and to the future. Alperovitz and Daly give modern Americans a key to understanding how we can create the society of justice and equality that earlier generations sought.
—WILLIAM GREIDER, AUTHOR OF THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: OPENING PATHS TO A MORAL ECONOMY
—WILLIAM GREIDER, AUTHOR OF THE SOUL OF CAPITALISM: OPENING PATHS TO A MORAL ECONOMY
Warren Buffett is worth nearly $50 billion. Does he “deserve” all this money? Buffett himself will tell you that “society is responsible for a very significant percentage of what I’ve earned.”
Unjust Deserts offers an entirely new approach to the wealth question. In a lively synthesis of modern economic, technological, and cultural research, Gar Alperovitz and Lew Daly demonstrate that up to 90 percent (and perhaps more) of current economic output derives not from individual ingenuity, effort, or investment but from our collective inheritance of scientific and technological knowledge: an inheritance we all receive as a “free lunch.”
Alperovitz and Daly then pursue the implications of this research, persuasively arguing that there is no reason any one person should be entitled to that inheritance. Recognizing the true dimensions of our unearned inheritance leads inevitably to a new and powerful moral case for wealth redistribution—and to a series of practical policies to achieve it in an era when the disparities have become untenable.
Gar Alperovitz is the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland. His previous books include The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and America Beyond Capitalism. He lives in Washington, D.C. Lew Daly is a senior fellow at Demos and the author of God and the Welfare State. He lives in New York City.
Unjust Deserts offers an entirely new approach to the wealth question. In a lively synthesis of modern economic, technological, and cultural research, Gar Alperovitz and Lew Daly demonstrate that up to 90 percent (and perhaps more) of current economic output derives not from individual ingenuity, effort, or investment but from our collective inheritance of scientific and technological knowledge: an inheritance we all receive as a “free lunch.”
Alperovitz and Daly then pursue the implications of this research, persuasively arguing that there is no reason any one person should be entitled to that inheritance. Recognizing the true dimensions of our unearned inheritance leads inevitably to a new and powerful moral case for wealth redistribution—and to a series of practical policies to achieve it in an era when the disparities have become untenable.
Gar Alperovitz is the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland. His previous books include The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and America Beyond Capitalism. He lives in Washington, D.C. Lew Daly is a senior fellow at Demos and the author of God and the Welfare State. He lives in New York City.
Fall 2009
paperback
5 1/2 x 8 1/4, 240 pages
978-1-59558-486-1
paperback
5 1/2 x 8 1/4, 240 pages
978-1-59558-486-1
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